Put everything except the dates in your blender and blend until you have a smooth nut "milk".

Add the dates and process until smooth and creamy. Use your tamper to help it to blend fully.

Serve.

Preparation

Before: -During: 5 minutesAfter: -Need: Blender

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 60ml / 3 tbsp Calories: 161

3.2.2265

Tips

I use really raw cashews from Loving Earth in all of my recipes. Not all cashews are shelled using low-temperature methods, and these babies taste truly amazing, so it’s worth finding a local supplier of truly raw cashews if you can.

I also use raw, unsalted macadamias in my recipes. They do add a reasonable fat content to this caramel sauce, so if you wanted to reduce the fact content, you could replace the macadamias with another 1/4 cup of cashews. The sauce won’t be quite as rich, but that might be a good thing.

Vanilla bean powder is just fresh vanilla beans air-dried and ground into a powder using a spice blender or coffee grinder. You can make your own or you can buy it from your local health food shop. If you can’t get your hands on any of this, you can just scrape out a fresh vanilla bean or two into the mix, or add another 1-2 tsp of vanilla essence.

Mesquite powder (or mesquite flour) is made by grinding the pods of the mesquite plant, and adds a an extra caramel hit to this recipe. If you don’t have any, you could leave it out and your raw caramel sauce would still be sweet, caramelly and decadent, but it really does ramp up the flavour, so add it if you can.

I use pink Himalayan crystal salt in my dishes because it contains lots of trace minerals that are good for you, and apparently it tastes better too. So if you’re going to use salt at all, the pink stuff is the best!

The mix of water and ice is important because it helps to keep the sauce cool as you blend it. Whether you have a high speed blender or not, you’ll need to blend this one for long enough to make it really smooth, and it can overheat while you’re doing that if you’re not careful. So use ice if you can.

If you can’t stand the sound of ice blending, refrigerate your ingredients, especially the water and the dates, before making your raw caramel sauce.

You can play with reducing the water if you want an even thicker sauce. It may not blend quite as easily, but it will make a thicker sauce that you could use as frosting or between cake layers

Medjool dates are sweet, soft and sticky dates that you usually find in the fresh produce section, or at your local health food store. They’re softer than regular dates, and have more of a caramelly taste. Apparently Barhi dates taste even more like caramel, so if you have access to those, they’d definitely be worth a try.

I make the “milk” first to make sure they everything is properly blended before I add the dates. This makes sure that there are no chunks of nuts in the sauce.

Hi Nikki..
I’ve been looking for a date caramel sauce and I stumbled upon your recipe. Looks and sounds great and easy to make. My question : what exactly is mesquite powder and can I substitute it for something else. I understand that it is a type of sweetener. Maybe I can use honey or maple syrup?

Mesquite powder is made from the pods of the mesquite plant. It’s kind of a cross between a sweetener and a flour, and it also adds caramel flavour to things. If you don’t have any, you could just leave it out, and it would still taste pretty nice.

Or you could replace it with another raw sweetener, like coconut sugar or coconut nectar, honey (which isn’t vegan) or even maple syrup (which isn’t raw) – anything with a bit of extra flavour to add some depth to the sauce. (Note: If you use a liquid sweetener, you may need to reduce the amount of water you add.)

My favourite cookbooks

My favourite kitchen gadgets

Having the right gadgets has totally changed my experience in the kitchen.

High-speed blender

I use my Vitamix blender at least 2-3 times EVERY day. It's fast, so versatile and super quick and easy to clean. I couldn't live without mine. I absolutely love it!

Food processor

I use my powerful food processor three or four times a week, for making nut butters, desserts, sauces, burgers and more. It's great for large batches and dishes that need texture and just makes "cooking" so much faster.

Dehydrator

I use my 5-tray Excalibur dehydrator once or twice a week, for crackers, breads, biscuits, cakes or even just for thawing things. It does an awesome job and makes eating raw SO much easier.

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